Licensing call after rape

A senior Labour MP has called for tough new rules to regulate bicycle rickshaws after a driver was jailed for eight years for raping a passenger.

Gwyneth Dunwoody, MP for Crewe and Nantwich, made her demands as the judge in the case called for rickshaws to be licensed.

"They need to have proper restrictions as soon as possible," said Mrs Dunwoody.

She was speaking after Luis Rozo, 29, a former Colombian army officer, was convicted at Snaresborough Crown Court of raping a 21-year-old passenger after picking her up in the West End late at night last May.

Rozo told the passenger the fare back to her family home in Camden was £10. She told him she only had £1.

He agreed to take her anyway. He then stopped in an alley in Bloomsbury and attacked her. "I remember screaming for help," she told the court. "I said 'no, please no' but it had no affect on him."

A resident of Herbrand Street, where Rozo had stopped, witnessed the attack and called the police. Rozo was arrested at the scene. Passing sentence Judge John Price said: "It is unfortunate a scheme has not been devised where drivers can be identified. Because rickshaws are not powered they do not have to be licensed. I would urge it to be considered so that there are some licensing provisions."

There are an estimated 350 rickshaws in London.

A private Bill prepared by Transport for London (TfL), which is now in its second reading in the House of Commons, proposes they be subjected to the same rules as motor vehicles.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said he had "grave doubts" about the safety of rickshaws. Interviewed on LBC radio, Mr Livingstone, whose plans to register mini-cab drivers are close to completion, said he had no powers to take action against rickshaw riders.

"The situation at the moment is that they're outside the law. The government should change the law so I could take control of rickshaws. I don't have a policy because I don't have any power."

A TfL spokesman said there were no plans to check the criminal records of rickshaw cyclists. But she added: "We expect that when licensing is complete it will be similar to that affecting taxi and private hire drivers."

Some rickshaw operators back proposals for licensing. Chris Smallwood of the not-for-profit operator Bugbugs said recently: "We need regulation to ensure all operators are subject to a code of conduct."